Total number of unchecked ToDos in Todoist

Akrasia
1

Hi,

Is there a way to use Zapier or IFTTT to log the total number of unchecked ToDos in Todoist, as opposed to sending a value = 1 every time a todo item is checked?

Like for inbox zero, it is more helpful to log how many tasks are left, rather than how many have been completed.

thanks!
giovanni

1 Like
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Alternatively, one could log +1 for each new task (keeping track of the cumulative total) and -1 for each task completed? Would that work? What type of beeminder goal would that need? “Do less” will not work, because although auto-summing, will expect less +1 per week, which is not the goal. A goal type like inbox zero will not work because it will expect totals…
any help will be appreciated
G

1 Like
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hey giovanni! i actually use a slightly customized do-less goal (here) to manage this exact use case. it’s a flat line at 7 items, so i can add as many to-dos as i want as long as i make it back down to 7 or fewer before midnight! and i schedule the weird spikes downward to force me to get it even lower so i’m not holding onto 7 ancient to-dos forever.

admittedly, i used a bit of my admin superpowers + premium custom goal capability to set it up, but it’s doable (though uglier) through the standard interface.

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Thanks!

I find it incredible that neither of the to-do apps I checked (Toodledo and Todoist) have this basic function (i.e. returning the total number of tasks) as part of their API.

From the Toodledo forum (2011):
User: Any plan to implement this feature in a future release of the api?
Admin: Probably not, since you can easily count this yourself.

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I agree, I find it pretty meaningless to track rate-of-doing-todos since that is a function of how many todos I write. The backlog is what is important.

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I’m not sure if you’d like using HabitRPG just for its to-do list but our HabitRPG integration supports exactly this! I’ve beeminded a task backlog that way myself (bmndr.com/d/habitzero).